Recently discovered comet to be visible early Tuesday morning

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
The comet named Lulin C/2007, discovered by Taiwan astronomers nearly two years ago, will be visible to the naked eye on Tuesday morning before sunrise in southwestern skies. Located near the planet Saturn, the comet is moving rapidly towards the sun. The event, which is causing excitement among astronomy fans, will feature the comet made of ice and dust. These create a long tail of luminous gas that is millions of kilometers long, according to Prof. Yoav Yair, a researcher at the Open University. Yair said on Monday that Lulin is the first comet to be seen with the naked eye in 2009. It will appear as a fuzzy spot, but with a good set of binoculars, its green-hued tail containing cyanide will be visible. The closest it will get to Earth is an estimated 61.5 million kilometers, so there is no reason to fear contact with it, he added.